Glass spinning ring



E. F. FEEN GLASS SPINNING RING Filed Nov. 26, 1938 March 26, 1940.

Ra & m I M f Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I 10 Claims.

This invention relates to spinning rings for use in textile spinning frames and more particularly to spinning rings made of glass.

In the conventional spinning and twisting mechanism used in the textile industry, the body of fibres being twisted into a yarn or thread passes from the feed rolls to the spindle by way of a small, lightweight guide or traveler freely mounted for rotation about the spindle. In general, these travelers are in the form of small wire clips which are hooked loosely over the rims of a ring mounted coaxially with the spindle and adapted to be raised and lowered along the length of the spindle to give uniform distribution of the spun material thereon. Such rings are commonly made of metal and are very accurately machined and highly polished to provide smooth, true bear-' ing surfaces against which the traveler may ride as it moves about the spindle during the spinning process.

Due to the high speed of the traveler over the ring surface, it hasbeen found essential to provide some form of lubrication for all forms of metal rings and travelers. Much thought has been expended and many intricate designs worked out in an attempt to supply lubricants to spinning rings uniformly and in the proper amounts. Despite the utmost care in'the use of these devices, the industry has heretofore considered it inevitable that -a certain proportion of the production of a machine will be spoiled by reason of lubricant from the rings getting on the thread or yarn. The actual cost of the lubricant used as well as the loss of product due to spoilage constitute a considerable portion of the expense involved in the manufacture of spun textiles.

The primary object of this invention is to eliminate the use of lubricants at places where they may contact the yarn and to avoid wastage of material due to the spoilage encountered through contact of the yarn with lubricants.

Another object is to prevent the building up of harmful static charges on the surface of textile spinning rings when the latter are made from glass or like substance which possess a low coefficient of friction with metal.

Among its features the invention embodies a spinning ring that can be successfully operated indefinitely without lubrication.

Other features embody a spinning ring made of glass and having incorporated with its surface a suitable material which will render such surface conducting and prevent the formation of harmful discharges of static electricity while retaining the low coefficient of friction of the glass surface.

Many attempts have been made to use glass in the formation of spinning rings as it is known that a smooth glass surface presents little resistance to the travel of a metal part thereover. While glass spinning rings have been made and tried in 5 spinning and twisting frames, such rings have never been successful since it has been found in practice that the high speed of the traveler along the glass generates static electricity which periodically discharges from the traveler across the intervening portion of the ring to the frame and in so doing burns and pits the ring and traveler to such an extent that they quickly become unsuitable for further use, Furthermore, the static potentials built up on and around the ring cause 15 the lint and fly from the yarn to deposit on the ring surface which interferes with movement of the traveler and makes it difiicult to obtain a satisfactory, uniform product from the machine.

I have discovered that glass spinning rings can be successfully operated without lubrication, even in very dry atmospheres, if they have incorporated with their surface a thin film of material which will form a conducting layer on the surface of the ring, thereby reducing the tendency for the friction of the traveler on the glass to generate static charges, and continuously conducting away to the frame of the machine such static electricity as may be generated. Several different types of coatings may be used in this connection including burned in metallic lusters, chemically deposited metallic films, and iridized coatings of a conducting character.

The accompanying drawing shows the application of the invention broadly to a glass spinning 35 ring of conventional form.. Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a glass ring mounted in a ring rail; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1. In the drawing l0 indicates the usual ring rail of a conventional spinning frame in which is mounted a glass spinning ring l2 of the vertical type. The ring 12 may be secured in the rail III by the use of cement or clamping means of proper design, but in the disclosed structure one or more integral bosses I! are provided on the ring which cooperate with a slot or slots 16 in the rail in permitting the ring to be locked in position by a simple insertion and partial turn. A metal traveler i8 is shown in operating position and the thread passing therethrough is indicated diagrammatically at 20. For purposes of illustration, the conducting layer on the ring is indicated as a coating 22 of appreciable thickness; but in actual practice this coating is either actually incorporated in the glass surface, or if it is a discrete coating, is of scarcely measureable thickness. The purpose of the drawing is primarily to illustrate the fact that the conducting layer is substantially coextensive with the surfaces of the ring which the traveler may contact in operation and extends well into contact with the rail I0.

While considerable success has been attained with the use of fired in metallic lusters, such as a thin platinum luster obtained by burning in a coating of platinum resinate at a temperature of about 550 C., the preferred form of my invention is obtained by producing an iridized conducting coating on substantially the entire surface of a glass spinning ring of proper design. Iprefer to apply my coating to the desired portions of the ring as it comes from the mold after the initial forming operation, particularly as a fire polished glass surface has a lower coefficient of friction than one which has been ground and polished mechanically. However, if the skill of the particular molder is insufficient to produce an article of the desired accuracy, the ring may be ground and polished and subsequently reheated to the necessary temperature for iridizing, namely between 600 C. and 650 C. In either case, best results are usually obtained with rings made from low expansion boro-silicate glass. The desired coating is obtained by spraying the ring at this elevated temperature with a solution of a metallic salt or by exposing it to the fumes of a metallic salt.

The salt solution used for spraying the ring preferably is forced from the nozzle by a stream of compressed air which produces a fog like spray of minute particles, the volume of which may be controlled by adjusting the flow of air through the nozzle. Fumes of the metallic salt may be generated (1) by heating a solid salt in a closed container provided with delivery tubes, or (2) in case the salt has a normally high vapor pressure, by passing air through the container, as in the case of stannic chloride or silicon tetrachloride, or (3) by passing chlorine through a tube containing the metal or the oxide of a metal and carbon as in the case of iron, tungsten, or molybdenum.

It is preferred to perform the iridizing operation by placing the ring on a rotating support before a nozzle positioned to direct the spray or fumes onto the ring. By rotation of the support combined with proper direction of the jet, the ring is coated with a thin, uniform film of oxide which is closely incorporated with the surface of the glass in the form of a lustrous iridescent coating whose thickness is from .001 to .03 mm. .After treatment, the ring is preferably annealed in the usual manner.

A coating produced in the above manner being closely incorporated with the glass surface appears to take on the smooth glassy character of the glass and has an equally low or lower coefficient of friction with metal. Further, due to its method of application, it is extremely resistant to abrasion and shows little or no tendency to wear or weather, even under humid conditions, over long periods of time. These coatings absorb heat only slightly more than glass itself and do not cause introduction of harmful temperature gradients in the ring.

The preferred material for a conducting, iridescent coating has been found to be tin oxide obtained by the use of a spraying solution of stannous chloride in water with a little hydrochloric acid or by the use of fumes of stannic chloride generated by passing dry air through tion of fumes or spray to the hot glass.

liquid anhydrous stannic chloride in a suitable container. The oxide produced in this manner has a relatively low electrical resistance, in the neighborhood of .001 ohm per centimeter cube.

I have also found that other salts of tin will produce by conducting coating and I have successfully employed fumes of stannic chloride, stannous chloride and stannous iodide and sprayed solutions of stannous chloride, stannic chloride, stannous sulphate, stannic sulphate and stannous nitrate. I have even produced conducting coatings by applying solid stannous oxalate and also solid stannous oxide directly to the surface of hot glass. However, for producing my conducting coating I prefer to use the fumes of stannicchloride generated and applied as above described because they are more easily controlled and produce more uniform results.

I am also able to produce conducting coatings with salts of tungsten and molybdenum and also with silicon tetrachloride and ferric chloride but in doing this I have found it necessary subsequently to heat and cool the coated articles in a reducing atmosphere after the initial applica- That is, I take the article sprayed or fumed as above described by ferric chloride or silicon tetrachloride or chlorides of tungsten and molybdenum and I reheat the article and the coating in a gas flame burning with a slightly insufficient supply of air and then allow the article to cool, preferably in an atmosphere of illuminating gas. In lieu of a gas flameI may use an electric mufile and maintain therein an atmosphere of illuminating gas.

The process of producing iridescent coatings on glass articles by exposing them while hot to the fumes or sprayed solutions of metallic salts is known in the glass art as iridizing, but so far as I am aware such iridized coatings have'never before been applied to or found useful on glass spinning rings.

It is not fully understood whether the conducting iridescent coatings produced as above described actually prevent the formation of static electricity during the movement of the traveler about the ring or whether the coating merely permits a continuous leakage of the electricity to ground as it is formed. However, the presence of such a conducting coating, while retaining the advantages of the low coefficient of friction of a glass surface, makes practical and possible the use of a glass spinning ring without the appearance of the static discharges previously experienced. This characteristic of the ring is retained after long service, even after there has been an appreciable wearing down of the coating.

By the term permanently incorporated with its surface as used above and in the appended claims, I mean the close incorporation and the resulting lasting adhesion of the conducting film to the glass which is obtained by the methods disclosed above as distinguished from the adhesion of paint or the like where adhesion depends on the adhesive qualities of the vehicle. It may be that the coating actually merges with the surface glass, but I do not wish to be bound to this or any other specific theory.

The word iridized as used in the claims is intended to mean a glass surface with which a very thin coating of a metal compound'has been incorporated and formed under the influenceof heat.

While the present invention has been.illus- 75 v trated in full with reference to a specific structure, modification is to be expected and permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a spinning ring formed from nonconducting material, a conducting coating permanently incorporated with the surface of said ring and a grounded frame for supporting said ring, said coating extending over substantially the bearing surfaces of said ring and into contact with said frame.

2. A spinning ring having a glazed surface and a coating permanently incorporated with said surface.

3. A glass spinning ring having a conducting coating permanently incorporated with its surface.

4. A glass spinning ring having a conducting iridized coating permanently incorporated with its surface.

5. A glass spinning ring having a conducting coating of a metal permanently incorporated with its surface.

6. A glass spinning ring having bearing surfaces and supporting surfaces, said ring having a conducting coating permanently incorporated with its bearihg surface and at least a portion of 10. In combination, a glass spinning ring, a

grounded support for said ring, and a conducting coating permanently incorporated with the sur- I face of said ring, said coating extending over the bearing surfacesof said ring and into contact with said support.

EDWARD F. F'EEN. 

